Until recently, scientists focused almost solely on how microbes negatively affect humans. There has since been a realization that some microorganisms are actually beneficial to human health.

Let’s first of all define some terms:

The microbiota is the collection of microbes that live in and on the human body. The microbiota microorganisms contain about 30-50 trillion cells, bacteria make up the bulk The human body itself contains about 37 trillion human cells.

The microbiome refers to the combined genetic material of the microorganisms in a particular environment

Top Ten Facts About the Microbiome

Microbial genes significantly influence how the body operates.

They impact aging, digestion, the immune system, mood and more

There are approximately 3.3 million microbial genes in the human body (and 2,000 functional human genes)

Microbial genes outnumber human genes by a ratio of 100:1

99% of human metabolic functions in the human body are coded for bacterial DNA )

Everyone’s individual microbiome is as unique as their fingerprint and comprised of hundreds of different types of bacteria.

The specific number of bacteria cells varies throughout the day and is always turning over.

The microbes that live in your body are determined by what you’re exposed to and these colonies are constantly in flux. Geography, health status, stress, diet, age, gender, and everything you touch all affect the composition of your microbiota

We depend on a vast army of microbes to stay alive: a microbiome that protects us against germs, breaks down food to release energy, and produces vitamins

Gut bacteria have the ability to produce the enzymes required to break down complicated nutrients.

LONGEVITY SECRET # 3 – conditions including Alzheimer’s — and other forms of dementia — and also depression, attention deficit disorder, PTSD, even bipolar disorders, are all deeply influenced by the food we eat.

Blueberries are “brain berries.” You want to get them organic or don’t eat them because blueberries hold pesticides more than most fruits.

80 percent plants — colorful plants.

High-quality fats… olive oil mixed in with some form of protein because fat and protein together help balance blood sugar. It could be organic tofu; it could be high protein plants like spinach and broccoli.

Wide spectrum of fruits and veggies in order to cover all the bases. We have an overwhelming body of evidence that a healthy diet filled with unprocessed, low-glycemic foods like green, leafy vegetables dramatically improves blood flow, and also lowers our risk of heart disease — for inflammation, for obesity, and diabetes

LONGEVITY SECRET # 2 – The vast majority of premature death and disability is preventable with a plant based diet and other healthy lifestyle behaviors

70 to 80 percent of all major chronic diseases are lifestyle diseases, so the only way to treat them effectively — to reverse them — is to change the lifestyles that led to them in the first place. Primarily that’s what we put in our mouth, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study, [which is] the largest study of disease risk factors in human history, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.1 The number one cause of death in the United States — and the number one cause of disability in the United States — is both our diet.Cigarettes now only kill about a half million Americans every year, whereas our diet kills hundreds of thousands more.

REMOVE

Trans fats — anything with partially hydrogenated oils.

Processed meat — bacon, ham, hot dogs, lunch meats, that kind of thing, which was declared in 2015 to be a Category 1 carcinogen by the IARC, the World Health Organization body that determines what is and is not cancer causing. So basically putting processed meat up there with plutonium and asbestos and cigarette smoke, things we know to cause cancer in human beings, yet people continue to give it to their kids to go to school. It’s like putting a carton of milk and a carton of cigarettes on everybody’s little lunch tray there.

Soda, liquid candy.

High fructose corn syrup.

Table sugar, in excess quantities, do indeed contribute to obesity, to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, to hypertension, to high blood pressure.

LONGEVITY DIET

Greens are the healthiest foods and the healthiest types of greens are cruciferous vegetables. So, it’s kind of the healthiest of the healthiest — the broccoli family of vegetables, such as kale, collards, and you know cabbage fits in the family too.

Red and purple cabbage has the same kind of eyesight and brain protecting antioxidants that berries do, but at a fraction of the cost.